A Roman Patrician with Busts
of his Ancestors,
late 1st C BCE
Marble, lifesize
Classic Roman

Form: This lifesize naturalistic figure, which stands
in contrapposto, is also realistic. The individualism of the figure's face
and the portrait busts he holds is a bit of a departure from the idealism
of the Classic Greek era. Even during the Hellenistic period of Greek
art, the figures were still extremely stylized. In this case, the
idea of a realistic likeness warts, balding, and wrinkles are recorded
accurately. This kind of realism is referred to as verism.
This sculpture also incorporates as part of its initial
design the use of supports, such as the plant form that supports the bust
in the figure's right hand and the robes that support his left. This
is a bit different from the Roman marble copies of Greek bronze originals
in which the supports were added as afterthoughts to the initial design
to make up for the marble's lack of tensile strength.
Iconography: This sculpture is a portrait but is
also meant to show the lineage (ancestry) of the Roman patrician
(leading citizen or founding father. Literally comes from pater:
father). By holding effigies of his ancestors he is showing his importance
and therefore it is fairly important to make sure that the likenesses express
the character of the individual.
Context: The culture of the Roman Empire was fairly
different from the Greeks, but much of their plays, music, art, education,
and way of representing themselves were based on the Greek culture.
Rome was originally founded as a republic which is a fairly democratic
form of government similar to and somewhat based on Greek forms of government.
In a republic, an individual's rights as well as accomplishments can often
distinguish them. Paradoxically, the accomplishments of one's family
can also distinguish the individual. This might explain the increase
of realism while still using some of the Greek schemas or conventions for
sculpture.
Also see Stokstad's section Roman Funerary Practices
Some of the specific artistic forms and processes borrowed
from the Greeks were,

the wet drapery style- drapery appears to hang on
sculptures as if wetted. This shows off the anatomy underneath the cloth.

contrapposto- the subtle shift of weight at the hips
that gives sculptures a more lifelike appearance.

Form: The veristic style of the Roman Patrician
above is also expressed in Roman portrait busts. According to Gardner,
the Romans, unlike the Greeks, believed that a sculpture of the head alone
was enough to fulfill the requirements of creating a portrait of an individual.
The Greeks believed that one needed the whole body for an accurate portrait.
Nevertheless, in each of these busts, every feature is recorded faithfully,
but, the age of the sitter and the verism of the portrait was probably
influenced somewhat by the gender of the sitter.
The materials also varied in portrait sculpture.
Marble and cast bronze were often used. Often the scultures were
polychromed as well. In the case of some sculptures, and even cheaper
material, such as terra cotta- was used and then painted with encaustic.
(Terra cotta is fired clay often with a bit of sand or gravel mixed in.)
The use of clay, in which both an additive and subtractive process can
be used was probably convenient because with this form of sculpting mistakes
can be fixed.
Iconography and Context: At the start of 200 B.C.
individuality was increasing. Sculptures were often produced to show the
power and wealth of an individual such as a statesman or a military leader.
The Roman Empire had representational form of government run by the Senate.
The Senate system was powerful, however, some military leaders "ceasers"
who had distinguished themselves in battle and through political coups,
became emperors who considered themselves living gods. Often power was
passed from relative to relative and through generations. Sculptures were
made of these family members almost as a form of ancestor worship.
Interestingly enough these sculptures also express how
the Romans viewed male and female roles in their society. Often portraits
were made to show the men as older and distinguished, at a time in their
lives when they were most powerful. Women are almost never depicted as
aged. They are mostly depicted as young and beautiful. Since art was mainly
produced and commissioned for a male audience it is possible to draw the
conclusion that art reflects a dominantly male view of the world. This
is often referred to by art historians and scholars as the "male gaze."

Form: This idealized portrait is possibly a copy
of a bronze original. The statue stands six feet eight inches tall
and is made of white marble. The statue depicts a male figure wearing armor
and some drapery, with his right arm raised. The figure carries a bronze
spear or staff in his left hand. The texture of the hair and skin mimic
the texture of real hair and skin. Augustus stands in contrapposto, appearing
to be stepping forward with most of his weight resting on his right hip.
Attached to his right leg is a small dolphin with a winged baby on its
back.
Iconography: This sculpture presents a more realistic
portrait of Augustus than Greek portrait sculpture did however he is still
idealized because he is the ideal. The unnatural height of
the statue is symbolic of the god-like status of Augustus. The figure's
armor is a symbol of his role as a military leader. His raised right arm
with an extended index finger appears as if he is gesturing or lecturing.
According to Professor
Farber, this is "called ad locutio gesture that traditionally
conveyed the power of speech in Roman art." This is symbolic of his
abilities as a leader and a speaker. The bronze staff in its left hand
is an icon that signifies his status as a leader. The statue appears to
be stepping forward and most of the weight appears to be resting on his
right hip. This pose referred to as contrapposto was first developed
in classical Greece. The use of contrapposto represents a legacy
inherited from the classic Greek culture. Engaged against the right leg
is a small dolphin with a winged baby on its back. The dolphin is a maritime
reference and the small winged figure on its back, may represent winged
victory. The two icons when juxtaposed against one another may represent
victory at sea. However, some interpretations of this iconography have
suggested that the winged figure is Cupid and therefore represents Augustus
relationship as a descendent of the gods.
Context: Augustus Caesar (1st century B.C.) was a dictator
who considered himself a God. He subverted the Roman republican,
democratic system, but pretended it still existed by granting the senate
some power. This statue is probably one of the copies that
was placed as public art in many town squares as a work of political propaganda.
Augustus waged an extremely profitable series of wars and was able to extend
the Roman Empire's borders as well as control the Senate. The unnatural
height of the statue is symbolic of the god-like status of Augustus because
the average height was around five feet. His raised right arm symbolic
of his abilities as a master orator refers to an earlier statue, the Aulus
Metellus. The raised arm, a symbol of rhetorical power as a speaker
is combined with the bronze staff and armor are references to the abilities
that any Roman leader should possess. In some ways, this is the originating
idea of our conception of the "Renaissance Man" of the 1500's. The references
to the
Aulus Metellus statue, contrapposto pose, invented by the
classical Greek culture, and the Cupid, that represents Augustus as a descendent
of the gods, grant both the Augustus Primaporta and Augustus authority
based in time honored traditions.

Colosseum, (Flavian Amphitheater)
Rome Italy 70-80 CE
Classic Roman

Form: One of the major innovations in this building is
the technology used to create it. A combination of complex arches
(see Stokstad for more in depth description) and concrete which is a building
material which consists primarily of lime, cement, sand (pozzolana), and
water with rubble mixed into it and as such is very inexpensive and easy
to work with. Since concrete can be easily molded or poured
into a durable and strong stonelike substance, it was also used to create
the arches and the internal filling of the walls.
A an excellent student, Sue Che wrote,

with the invention of concrete, the Romans were
much more daring in creating new styles in construction. They came out
of the shell of ‘post and lintel’ and started with simple arches like the
ancient Egyptians and Mesopotamian. The simple arches such as the triumphal
arches could not satisfy their creative minds, the Romans extended the
arches and got the barrel vaults. To add more interests to the vaults,
they were placed across or next to each other and created the groin vaults
and the arcades. Finally, the easily bored Romans put all the ideas and
efforts together and built this giant oval shaped amphitheater called the
Colosseum. The whole structure was designed with arches, connected vaults
and arcades. The outer façade is tiers of arches all the way around.
When you go inside, barrel vaults and cross vaults support the tiers of
seats for the audiences. It is truly amazing what the Romans can do when
you put concrete in their hands.

Stokstad points out that it existed before but that
the Romans perfected it and without many Roman building would not have
been able to be created. (Before you do the worksheet, make sure
you read Stokstad for a more complete description of concrete and the different
forms and ways it was used.)

The exterior walls were of a creamy colored calcium
carbonate material called travertine, the inner walls of siliceous
rock deposits called tufa, and the vaulting of the ramped seating
area of monolithic
concrete (for support). The fourth floor was
embellished with Corinthian
pilasters (ornamental) which carried
wooden masts from which an awning was suspended to shield spectators from
the sun. Composite are on top of the pilasters and are more visually and
though makes the building look more taller. Marble and wooden seats accommodating
up to about 50,000 spectators surrounded an arena measuring 280 ft by 175
ft. The floor of the arena was made of heavy wooden planks: chambers below
the floor housed animals for the games.
quoted directly from:
http://www.dsu.edu/departments/liberal/artwork/Thesis/text/ArtH1-07.html

Its construction was started by Vespasian in
AD 69 and inaugurated in AD 80. This Amphitheater was very important because
of arch technology. This building had four stories and its arches were
framed by superimposed orders: Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian or Composite.
This orders were used to adorned several stories of a building, they were
normally in an ascending sequence from heaviest to most slender.
Doric order was assigned to the ground floor of
the building,
Ionic order to the middle story, and
Corinthian order to the top story.

Iconography and Context: According to the Britannica,

"CONSTRUCTION OF THE COLOSSEUM WAS BEGUN SOMETIME
BETWEEN AD 70 and 72 during the reign of Vespasian; the structure was officially
dedicated in AD 80 by Titus in a ceremony that included 100 days of games.
Later, in AD 82, Domitian completed the work by adding the uppermost story."
The Colosseum was used by the Roman Empire to entertain the masses of people
who lived in the city. Gladiators were often prisoners of war or criminals.
Sometimes gladiators would fight one another and other times they would
fight ravenous beasts. Enemies or individuals who were perceived as threats
(a good portion were Christians) to the Roman Empire sometimes were thrown
in the in the ring with wild animals. This was often done dramatically
by utilizing elevators and trap doors that would raise the animals into
the arena. Sometimes these atrocities were committed while a massive water
powered organ made music that accompanied the events. This is one of the
reasons why organ music does not become popular in the Catholic Church
until around 1500.

Form, Formal, Physical
The Pantheon is noted as one of the best-preserved monuments
because of the building and landscape renovations that have been done throughout
the centuries. It is surrounded by some of the original baths built by
Agrippa as well as a few smaller temples by Hadrian and a long courtyard
that leads to a church at the far end. According to William Mac Donald,
the author of The Pantheon: design, meaning and progeny, the Pantheon
has three major parts to its structure - the porch, the structural niches
and the domed rotunda. The front of the building is the large porch with
a series of columns that act as support and design. The columns throughout
the monument were constructed of carved granite using the Corinthian order
that was originally developed but the Greeks for interior use but soon
afterward also used for the exterior of temples and other monuments. The
outer perimeter walls of the entirety are 20 feet thick that raise nearly
75 feet high. These walls were put together using concrete and wood materials
so that the architect and design crew could cover a large amount of interior
space and create vast apparent ceilings. The dome rotunda is 143 feet in
diameter and 143 feet in height supported by a circular wall known as the
drum. The drum is deigned with block coffers that service as both esthetic
and structural purposes. Structurally the coffers are used as a compression
system: the building is stabilized by unabsorbed weight that is properly
placed. There are a total of 143 coffers in 28 rows. The dome consists
of 9/10th concrete that has been poured over an immersed hemispherical
wooden form. Both the interior and exterior walls are believed to be finished
with alabaster porphyry or marble for esthetic purposes. Coffers also give
the human eye an illusion of the dome being lightweight and having depth.
To show the richness and importance of this culture here are a few other
examples of the materials used to create such a masterpiece. The floors
were covered with a wide range of colored marble designed in geometric
shapes, the doorframes were made of bronzed metal and the original roof
was glided gold plates that were eventually replaced with lead plating.
Icon, Iconography, Symbol
The true iconography of the Pantheon is still questioned
today but we do know that it is represented as a great spiritual building.
When Hadrian created the building it was a house for all gods, which meant
it was a non-religious monument. It housed the twelve major gods and goddesses:
Jupiter, Juno, Neptune, Minerva, Apollo, Diana, Mars, Venus, Vulcan, Vesta,
Mercury and Ceres who all represent something of good/bad nature in the
world (Ebscohost). These gods are houses in the dome rotunda, which presents
the visitor with a sense of emptiness and apotheosis, a feeling one could
float upward to escape and commune with the gods. The circular design of
the monument originally descends from two sources: religious buildings
and tombs. They were never intended for internal visitor use, only external
viewing because they questioned the safety of the structure and it was
a sacred place that only priest could enter.
Context, Social, Historical
According to the Columbia Encyclopedia, the cities
had public squares that were surrounded by buildings such as the Pantheon.
The Roman’s built these to accommodate the vast expansion of the Roman
Empire. When designing the Pantheon they were highly influenced by the
Greek and Etruscan construction using arches and post and lintel; however
the dome rotunda was primarily a Roman invention (Ebscohost). The argument
still stands on who the buildings architect and creator really was - was
it Marcus Agrippa or Hadrian? Before the Pantheon was built an earlier
temple (in honor of the Anthony and Cleopatra defeat) accompanied the site
which was built by Agrippa in 27 BC and burnt down in 110 BC. Then between
125 –128 CE Hadrian and still an unknown architect built the Pantheon.
Historians do believe there was an actual architect that helped him because
at that time Hadrian was just an amateur at what he did. Why then is the
creator unknown? It is not clear whether or not Hadrian kept the originally
porch and roof or if he recreated the original which says the following,
"M`AGRIPPA`L`F`COS`TERTIVM`FECIT –Marcus Agrippa the son of Lucius, three
times consul, built this (Mac Donald, pg.13)." Though it is clear that
Hadrian constructed the monumental dome rotunda that makes the building
so grand. When the Pantheon, a temple for all gods, was finished it was
used to house the twelve Olympian gods but in 609 CE Pope Boniface IV dedicated
it as the Christian church of St. Mary and the Martyrs. From that point
in history that event brought the destruction of all of pagan temples to
this day.

I'm a fine artist and an art historian. I'm
always looking for interesting art historical facts and ideas. I also
like reading and fiction so every once in a while I have fiction
contests where I give away original art.

I grew up in NYC but now in live the San Francisco Bay area. Where I make art, teach, curate, and blog.